Flowers in her Hand
by Weskette
Summary: Zip mourns over Lara's grave after her heroic death. Alternate Ending to "Flowers on her Tomb." ZipxLara


**Flowers in her Hand**

Zip slipped into the Croft Tomb. In his hand he held a small bouquet of flowers. They were all from exotic places that Lara had at one time explored while Zip was doing the research and sending her information.

"Lara..." His voice was faint and cracked. He wondered why she had to go. She had died a hero's death. She had sacrificed her own life to save many others. She had been in the middle of fighting a large serpent with a master that ment to destroy all of the worlds larger cities.

_Lara glanced around the serpent in front of her. On it's head perched a man with glowing red eyes that resembled the beasts own. "What to do..." Lara thought to herself. She saw a small glint in the corner of her eye. "Aha!" _

_It was the weak base of the pillar that held up the ceiling of old, mossy rock. She watched as the serpent drew closer extremely slowly. She had made her decision._

_She threw her grapple so it wrapped around the pillar's weak base. She pulled with all of her might until she heard a satisfying crack. The serpent which was almost upon her, hissed angrily. _

_"No!" The man cried angrily._

_Lara smiled when she looked up. The whole ceiling was crashing down. A particularly large slab of the anceint rock was falling. It would hit her. "I guess this was my last adventure." She spoke into her communication piece. "Goodbye, Zip."_

_"Lara! No!" Zip cried into the head piece. But it was too late. All communications were lost. She had been crushed by the weight of the rock. _

A tear escaped from Zip's eye. He wiped it away quickly. He continued to walk down the dark path that led to the croft tomb. Stepping into the open area, he switched on the lights.

The area lit up quickly, small wall lamps illuminating the way. He found himself in front of her grave, her_ tomb_. He fell to his knees. His closest friend, Alister, had died, shot by the doppelganger. But losing Lara was too much to bare. He hadn't even told her...

That he loved her. Placing the flowers on top of her casket, he closed his eyes. He didn't see why she had to be the one repeatingly risking her own life to save the world. There were other people that could've done it! One that he didn't love, or even know! He sighed. He knew that there was nothing he could do. Lara was dead. And that was that.

At first he rejected it with every fiber of his being, he wanted to believe that she was still alive. Her body was never found. But his hope was failing.

He remembered the moments before when he had planned to tell her his confession.

_"I'm bored." Lara stated simply. _

_"I should have results on a search in a second. Wanna play that "guess what I'm thinking" thing?" Zip offered. Things had gotten even quieter after the loss of Alister, and now they had only each other and Winston to talk to. _

_"Why not? You go first." She replied._

_"Ummm..." Zip pondered for a moment. "You're wishing you lived in Midevil times so you could meet King Arthur, and witness his retreival of Caliburn."_

_"Not quite, but close." Came the reply as Lara continued to watch Zip type on his computer. He had been working hard for the past few days to find her something to explore, so the game helped releive some stress._

_"You wish you were the one to pull the sword from the stone." Zip re-guessed, pretty sure it was right._

_"You got it. Now you are thinking of what kind of place I'll get to explore next?" _

_"Nope." He smiled. She would never guess it. That he was thinking of how much he loved her. _

_"Well..." She thought about it. "The next sticky note your going to put somewhere on your computers?"_

_"Not- Wait. I got a hit." Zip quickly pulled out a PDA and downloaded the information she needed. He stretched out his arm and held it out for her. As she took it their fingers brushed. He wondered if she got the same tingles he did when they touched. He hoped with all his heart she did. _

_"Brazil? I've never heard of this tomb before but thanks." She flashed a smile and started to head out the door but stopped and turned around. "You'll have to tell me what you were thinking once I get back!" A meaningful look in her eye._

But she never did get back. Not even her body returned. She died on that very same mission.

Zip took a deep breath and grimaced. He hated the smell of the cript-like area. It would forever remind him that she was gone. He would always detest the smell.

He took a quick breath closer to the flowers in his hand. Their spicy and exotict smell chased the musky-ness of the room away.

Zip broke the little red ribbon that held the flower's stems together. He then began to spread the flowers across the top of Lara's casket. Their fragrence covered it and permeated through the air.

He leaned forward and kissed her name which was inscribed on the plaque before the stone coffin. Under her name were words that he knew she would like there.

_Lara Croft _

_Avalon may only be a step away._  
_I have reached it._

He swallowed and stood again. He would visit here on every holiday, but he felt there were still words left unspoken. He realized what they were.

"I love you, Lara."

"Zip?" Said a feminine british accent.

When Zip turned to the voice he wasn't sure who he expected, but then he saw who it was and his eyes widened, "Lara!" He cried out.

She looked disheveled, her hair was down and she was covered in cuts and bruises. There were small rips in her clothes, her face dirty. She had a questioning look on her face. "Do you really mean that? That you love me?" Her voice, the voice Zip thought he'd never hear again rand like a bell in his head.

He bit his lower lip and nodded. "I mean it."

She threw her arms around him and there lips met. "I love you too." Lara stated simply when they parted. She looked over at the tomb that was ment to be hers. She saw the multiple kinds of flowers spread over it. She reached over and picked one up. "An everlasting?" She stated the flowers name. It was a flower that meant "Never ending Memory." She smiled and took Zip's hand. They walked out of the dark space together.


End file.
